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Mission

The purpose of the Making Cities Livable movement is to enhance the physical and social health and well-being of all inhabitants, strengthen community, and increase civic engagement by sustainably reshaping the built environment of our cities, suburbs, towns and villages.

To achieve these goals requires, first and foremost, a well-functioning public realm - meetings, encounters, dialogue among people young and old with a diversity of backgrounds, acquaintances, friends and strangers - that exists in multi-functional public places, squares and marketplaces.

To be vibrant these public places must exist within a truly urban fabric, and for this reason the Making Cities Livable movement promotes True Urbanism, - the time-tested principles of appropriate human scale architecture, mixed use shop/houses, and a compact urban fabric of blocks, streets and squares. outdoor cafes and restaurants, farmers' markets and community festivals also enliven the public realm.

For health and sustainability reasons, the public realm must promote active modes of transportation - walking, biking and public transit - over the automobile.

Regional planning for controlled growth, focused economic development and an integrated transportation system, is an essential element of True Urbanism.

True Urbanism respects each city's unique identity, its "DNA" and considers the city as a work of art. The city's identity is further expressed through its public art.

The principles of True Urbanism generate cities that are both ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE (by reducing energy consumption, emphasizing infill and reconstruction rather than greenfield development), and SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE, by promoting the individual's social, mental and physical WELL-BEING and the community's cultural, economic and social well-being.

A measure of the city's livability is how good it is for children and youth. If a city lacks livability they are the first to suffer. A city built on True Urbanist principles provides the ideal environment for the physical, mental and social development of children and youth.

Build multifunctional town squares that, like the ancient Greek agora or medieval marketplace, are capable of regenerating civic engagement and democratic participation.

These issues (which now seem as daunting as traffic calming seemed twenty years ago in the US) must be resolved in the next twenty years if we are to rediscover the principles of true urbanism, rebuild our cities so that they are ecologically sustainable, and regain communities that are socially sustainable.

Join us at the IMCL Conference to raise awareness of the goals that still lie ahead!

Are you looking for a speaker?

Suzanne Lennard is available to speak, or as a Consultant on Making Cities Healthy and Livable, Child-friendly Communities, Public Places, etc.

"The conference was one of the most interesting and genuinely useful for information gathering that I’ve been to. The different backgrounds of the participants addressing the same issues was the key."

Joe Anglin Glatting Lopez Kercher Anglin

"A wonderful Conference. I truly believe this is the best Conference on cities."

Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., City of Charleston

"The most important continuous conference dialogue on making the world's cities and towns more livable for all of their inhabitants."

Dr. Sven von Ungern-Sternberg, Governor, State of South Baden, Germany

"Congratulations for your extraordinary and successful effort. The Conference holds a magnifying glass to the world’s best cities, revealing why, and how they work."

Benjamin Thompson, FAIA AIA Gold Medalist

"Love for our cities unites all of us in this unique, impressive conference, with participants from different countries, with different professional backgrounds, but with one purpose: making our cities more livable."

Antonio Casellati Former Mayor, City of Venice, Italy

"Thank you for the utterly fascinating conference in Santa Fe... It has been a long time since I have been intellectually stimulated and been involved with such international creativity and innovations. The conference energized me and I was able to bring back ideas and information to my city."

Councilmember Stephanie Karlin, Avondale, AZ

"What an amazing conference! One of the best professional events I have ever attended!! Well-structured, extremely well-organized and super-high quality of both the presenters and materials presented."